Icing  Taking
Adequate Precautions
It's that time of year again. Time to shift your operational concerns from
thunderstorms to icing. But where does airframe icing come from? How does it
form? Where? How can I recognize the danger of icing during my flight
planning and what do I do about it? In this first part of a series, AVweb
contributor R. Scott Puddy tackles these questions and more. Consider it a
primer for what's to come.

Flying Into Known
Icing  Is It Legal?
Winter weather forecasts often include the threat of icing. But your
Bugsmasher II lacks the equipment required for flight in "known
icing" conditions. Does that mean you can't make a planned trip? What
do the FARs and the NTSB say? AVweb contributor R. Scott Puddy tackles these
and other questions in this second part of his series on icing.

An Icing Encounter
 PIC Judgment and Prosecutorial Discretion
An Airline Transport Pilot is still trying to live down his uneventful
landing following a momentary encounter with light-to- moderate icing in a
fully de-iced twin-engine cargo plane. By all accounts (except the FAA's, of
course) he played by the rules and exercised his good judgment to assure
that it was safe to initiate and complete the flight. Nevertheless, the FAA
elected to prosecute him and won. How could that be? AVweb's Scott Puddy
winds up his series on in-flight icing with this in-depth look at how the
FAA exercises its discretion in such cases.

How Can I Fail
Thee? Let Me Count the Ways ...
Recent high-profile accidents have demonstrated that even when redundant or
back-up systems are present, they don't guarantee a successful outcome to a
vacuum system failure. Indeed, the vacuum pump and its associated bits and
pieces are some of the most failure-prone components with which pilots of
piston-powered aircraft surround themselves. AVweb's Scott Puddy takes a
close look at the vacuum system and its many weaknesses while offering some
insights on what you can do about them

Airline-Quality
Weather Decisions for the General Aviation Pilot
Don't have tens of thousands of dollars to plunk small-scale weather
equipment into your general aviation aircraft? Still want to make the same
quality of decisions with the information professional pilots get?
Surprisingly, there's a lot more at your fingertips out there than you may
think. Jeremy Jankowski delves into the world of getting the most out of
what's available in a small aircraft.

Silicon
Visualization
One of the "new age" paths to success is to "visualize"
where you want to be and how you're going to get there. Let's cut through
the tie-dye and figure out a way to use these computers to help us make a
real airplane flight more successful.

The Black Hole
Approach: Don't Get Sucked In!
Whether you fly a piston single or a heavy jet, a long straight-in approach
at night over featureless terrain is a well-proven prescription controlled
flight into terrain. AVweb's Linda Pendleton examines the optical illusions
involved, and offers suggestions for making sure that you don't become a
thing that goes bump in the night.

Eye of Experience
#63: Confession Time
Admit it: You've done some stupid things while flying, haven't you? We all
have, and it is always better to learn from someone else's stupid mistakes
than to make even more of our own. AVweb's Howard Fried has told us about a
lot of things others have done wrong -- now it's time for him to confess his
own.

Say Again #20:
Communications  The Top Ten
There are probably a lot more than 10 problems with pilot/controller
communication. But as AVweb's Don Brown tells us, if we could solve these
10, the Com frequencies would be a lot less congested, and things would be
even safer.

As the Beacon
Turns #60: Midair Over Denver
Midair collisions are relatively rare, although you wouldn't think so to
watch the TV news. The recent one in Denver was close to home for AVweb's
Michael Maya Charles, both because of proximity and because of the reaction
of the media and the politicians.

Which group do you fall into  the flap crowd or the no-flap crowd? Do
you know when it's best to use wing flaps for landing and when it's best to
leave them stowed? This is one of general aviation's longest ongoing
debates, especially with the lighter, smaller models in the fleet. After
defusing an emotional "flap flap" in the local airport lounge,
AVweb's Rick Durden takes readers on a detailed discussion of the pros and
cons and the whys and why-nots of using those often misunderstood devices.
Where do you stand?

When you mention public benefit flying, most pilots immediately think
about volunteer pilot groups flying medical missions. But there are other
facets, too. AVweb's Rick Durden just returned from two weeks in Belize,
flying for LightHawk, a volunteer organization supporting environmental
conservation. Rick talks about what this and similar groups are doing and
how you can get involved.

Did you know that you could face an enforcement action even if you
readback a misunderstood clearance to the controller and he doesn't correct
you? It's the brave new world of the FAA's interpretive rule on readback
errors, and AVweb's Rick Durden  who is also an aviation attorney 
believes it's a major step backward for pilots, controllers and the agency.
Trust us: If you're a pilot, you need to read this!

The lounge is still abuzz about the FAA's bad-news "interpretive
rule" on pilot readbacks and Atlanta Center's well-intentioned but
seriously-flawed "Catch A Bad Altitude" program. About the only
light AVweb's resident optimist Rick Durden can see for pilots at the end of
this gloomy tunnel is that if you get nailed for an altitude bust or other
deviation, you might be able to sweet-talk your way into the FAA's excellent
but underused remedial training alternative to certificate action.

The large print giveth but the small print taketh away. So it is with the
FAA's policy on Land And Hold Short Operations, or LAHSO. AVweb's Rick
Durden discovers an internal FAA bulletin saying that Part 91 operators
cannot accept a LAHSO clearance unless they've received approved training.
No, there is no new regulation, just an FAA internal pronouncement. As
Joseph Heller wrote, "That's some catch, that Catch-22."

If you're like most pilots, it's probably been a while since your
piloting skills were honed to "check-ride" standards or better.
And, most of the time, that's fine. But, there are times that demand every
bit of skill you can scrape up. To make sure the demand is not greater than
the supply, a pilot should always be working to be the best possible, to
have some skills in reserve. As AVweb's Rick Durden puts it, what have you
got in your back pocket?

Crashing. It's not something pilots like to think about, much less
experience. But surviving an abrupt, unplanned end to a flight is something
for which a well-prepared pilot should consider and equip. A lot of research
has been done over the years and the fruits of that work have been
incorporated into modern aircraft. Still, as AVweb's Rick Durden explains,
there's much that a pilot and aircraft owner can do to help improve the
chances that he and his passengers will emerge unscathed from an unplanned
landing.

Many newly-minted instrument pilots earn the rating without ever having
seen the inside of a cloud or flown in "real" instrument
conditions. While avoiding IMC during instrument training is completely
legal according to the FAA's minimum standards, is it the best way to train?
Do instructors have a moral obligation to expose their instrument students
to actual IMC? AVweb's Rick Durden tackles these thorny questions and raises
some others. What's your opinion?

During their primary training, pilots are often taught what marginal VFR
weather looks like and why it's a hazard. Unfortunately, the lesson they
often receive from that training is how to handle MVFR, not that they should
avoid it. AVweb's Rick Durden takes a look at current research in this area
and comes up with some tips for CFIs and students alike.

Too many pilots are reluctant to declare an emergency, sometimes waiting
until it is too late for help to be given. AVweb's Rick Durden knows that
lots of resources and options open up to a pilot who does call
"Mayday," and there are almost never negative repurcussions when
they do, other than stick-in-the-mud second-guessers on the ground.

It's no secret that the Global Positioning System (GPS) has made life
much easier for pilots. What might be a secret is that it's made life much
tougher for controllers, who now must spend more time than ever coordinating
with other sectors and facilities. Don Brown, the Safety Representative For
NATCA at the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center, explains all.

To the controller trainee, ATC presents almost as many mysteries as it
does to the average pilot. Two of these mysteries involve handoffs and VFR
flight following, which can often arise at the same time. Believe it or not,
there is method to the madness. Using some real-life examples and the
Aeronautical Information Manual, Don Brown, the NATCA Safety Representative
at the Atlanta Air Route Traffic Control Center, explains all.

You can't play the game unless you can get on base and, sometimes, even
that task seems insurmountable. So it goes with instrument flying. AVweb's
Don Brown examines what it takes to get your ducks on the pond in this
month's "Say Again."

In the latest of his intermittent series of "courses" on
ATC/pilot communication, AVweb's Don Brown addresses the issues we face
during an instrument approach. What exactly are you required to do? How
should you ask for what you want to do? Read on ...

AVweb's Michael Maya Charles asks why we focus so much on the last ten
seconds of a flightthe landing. What is it about landing an airplane that
commands so much attention? What is a good landing, anyway? Michael also
questions whether the landing is any way to judge a pilot. His conclusions
may surprise you.

Many pilots go to great lengths to ensure that they are and remain
healthy and fit to fly for as long as possible. Still, unforeseen medical
events can temporarily force a pilot to remain ground-bound. So it is with
AVweb's Michael Maya Charles, who has a temporary "medical
deficiency" in the aftermath of back surgery. While anxious to get back
into the air and return to his day job, the downtime is affording MMC the
opportunity to perform some long- deferred work on his airplanes and do some
hangar flying. It's also given him time to think about what he's missing.